Barely any Rudy in this chapter. Probably a lot bad spelling and punctuation though. Sorry about that. Thank you to all of you that have followed or clicked the favourite button. A big thank you to you if you have reviewed.

I'm not sure how I feel about this chapter. I know it could be a lot better, but I desperately want to move on from it. It's driving me a little crazy.

Elsie could not believe she was doing this again. But as she listened to Nathan heave next to her, she would bet she wasn't the only one. So far, she had been the only one that had not recoiled from the smell of decaying bodies as they had dug deeper into the ground to retrieve the bodies of their first probation worker and the other member of Community Service that she was ashamed to say, she had forgotten the name of.

She wasn't stupid. She had watched enough Crime channel with her Gran to know that rotting bodies didn't exactly smell the nicest. The scarf she had wrapped round her mouth and nose was now receiving a few wanting looks from the others that only made her check that it was secure around her face.

"I'm fine." Nathan spoke as he stood, sounding anything but fine. "I'm fine."

Elsie was more than happy to carry on; the sooner this was over, the better. That was until she heard the squelching noise that had no doubt been made my the Irish twat next to her as he had started to dig again. "I've got something." She shuddered.

As Nathan scraped dirt away, she spotted maggots. A sure sign they were truly nearly there now. At the severed hand that moved with his shovel, Elsie gasped and moved away, bumping into Curtis as she did so. "Ooops." Nathan added a little breathlessly as Curtis gently took hold of Elsie's hand and pulled her away from the sight.

The past few days, she had barely spoken a word, had kept to herself as much as possible. Curtis had been the only one aside from Simon to truly notice how upset she was about her Great Aunt. A few days after her death, he had taken her wrist and guided her to a more quiet part of the changing rooms to question if she was alright. His genuine worry of her had had her in tears and clinging to his tank top for the next ten minutes as she let it all out. He had listened, though at first had tensed up at the contact between them, had eventually ended up rubbing soothing circles on her back as she sobbed. She had briefly wondered if she would have had the same reaction had the one talking to her been Simon but hadn't had time to think of a response as Sally had approached cautiously and asked if she wanted to come and sit in her office for a while. She may not have known the woman long, but she nodded her head, appreciating her thoughtfulness.

For half a second, Elsie had worried that Sally would make her walk past the others; something she was set against. She didn't want them to see her weak and not herself. But it turned out she needn't have worried in the first place. Sally had sent the others elsewhere to leave her with some sense of privacy. She only looked away from Elsie when she looked back at Curtis and told him where to find the others and what his task was for the morning. She didn't let her arm drop from Elsie's waist until she was sat on the couch in her office.

Now, as she watched the boys empty the makeshift graves, she leant against the wall and wondered if Tony would have done the same thing for her.

"Elsie." Simon called to her. He motioned her over when she looked over at him.

"Yeah?" She crouched in front of him, trying desperately not to look at the decomposing body that lay between them.

"Help me wrap him?" She nodded and together the pair made quick work of the task. It was only as Elsie was tying a knot in the string around a pair of feet that the silence between them was broken. "Are you alright?" His face contorted with something like remorse that quickly vanished in the red lights as he thought better of what he had asked. "I mean, I know you're not a-alright. But I-I was wondering how you are?" He didn't meet her gaze as he stuttered his words. She stopped her work and took a hold of one of his hands. Squeezing it until he looked up at her.

"I'll get there." The pair shared a brief smile before getting back to work, but stopped only moments later as the quiet male opposite her retrieved something from a pocket.

"What is it?" She could barely see anything with the lighting that surrounded her, but watched as Simon slipped something into his pocket. "What are you doing? If you're found with whatever that is, you'll be in serious trouble." For a moment, her worry took over her common sense and she quickly pulled the scarf down from her face, opened her mouth to rant some more, but quickly covered her nose again when the scent hit her. That was certainly a smell she wouldn't forget in a hurry.

"His credit card."

"What?"

"I have an idea." And with that, the conversation stopped. She did not want to know his idea, and it appeared for the moment, that he did not want to share it with her.

"So, have you forgiven him yet?"

"Who?"

"Rudy." Elsie took a sip of her drink from the bottle of water she was currently nursing as she sat next to her friend on a bench outside the Community Centre. She and Curtis were enjoying the morning sunshine before they started their service for the day. She turned to look at him upon receiving no reply. "I'll take your glare as a no." She giggled under her breath.

"It's just typical ain't it?"

"What is?"

"We're finally free of our sentence and then he comes along and steals a car. Of course we'd be in it when he got caught."

"Maybe we were meant to be in that car with him. Maybe we were meant to come back into Community Service." She almost choked on her spit at the look her friend was giving her.

"You seriously believe that?"

"No." She shrugged. "But it's better than being all mopey and whiney about it." She nudged his knee with her leg hoping he was remembering his attitude the first time they had started Community Service. "Look." She continued when she got no response. "At least we all know each other, we're not with a group of total strangers this time. We're with friends and quite honestly I think it will go a hell of a lot quicker with us that way." She finished the last few drops of water before crushing the plastic in her hands.

"Yeah." She smiled as her words seemed to make sense to him. "But we were fine hanging out without the service." Her smile fell instantly.

"Fine." She stood and stretched. "Be a downer about it. I'm going in. The sooner I start, the sooner I finish." She had failed to notice the coach of girls that had arrived at some point, so when she walked into the changing rooms to find a load of females undressing, she was rather surprised. Though the fact that Rudy was standing at his locker trying to make it appear as if he wasn't watching wasn't so surprising. "Do you know what they're all doing here?" She asked him as soon as she had walked over to him and leant against a locker.

"Love, it doesn't ma'er."

"Do they even know you're there?"

"That doesn't ma'er either."

"They don't do they? Have you been hiding behind your locker to watch them?" Her voice had risen.

"Jesus Elsie." He sighed as a handful of the girls turned to look at them and huffed when their gazes fell on him.

"Pervert." She muttered to herself and turned to head towards her own locker, re-thinking everything she had thought of the guy as she entered a toilet cubicle to change. There was no way she was changing in front of all those other girls and Rudy.

Wasting no time, she slipped her jumpsuit on and was out of the cubicle, throwing her jeans into her locker as she zipped the front up, ignoring the others as she exited the room, not noticing the guy who had been standing outside. Her shoulder jostled into the arm of the stranger and she paused to apologise. How close had he been standing to the door? She thought to herself.

"I am so sorry." She said instead, with a faint polite smile. "I wasn't paying much attention."

"Oh, don't worry." His gaze was possibly even creepier than William's. She moved aside slightly so as not to bump into him again, only to jump when she felt a hand on her arm. She really needed to get her nerves under control. "You're not here for the training, are you?"

She took her arm out of his reach, not enjoying the way he was looking at her. Taking a few steps away she shook her head. "No." Though her bright orange jumpsuit should have given that away.

"Shame." His voice sent chills down her spine. This was one person she wanted to avoid. She turned on her heel and marched out of the building, almost gulping down the fresh air when she finally made it into the sunshine.

"You ok?" Curtis was still sitting on the bench, earphone hanging down his front whilst the other sat snugly in his ear.

"Yeah." She took another deep breath before moving over to him, leaning her hip against the back of the bench. "You know what you're doing today?"

"Probation Worker's just told me. I'm varnishing with Alisha."

"I wonder what delights he'll have for me today." She rolled her eyes and allowed herself to forget the encounter moments ago.

"Wonder no more sweetheart." The voice of the man himself sounded from behind her. "You can clean some graffiti from the wall."

"Ok." She shrugged.

"You feeling alright?" He asked her now, crossing his arms over his chest.

"Why wouldn't I be?"

"No. witty remark for me? No sarcastic comment?"

"No." He took a moment to study her face, waiting for her to say something.

"Alright then. Hop to it." He went back inside a little deflated. He rather enjoyed her anger towards him.

"Are you really ok though?"

"Curtis." She sighed. "I'm fine." Feeling as if there was nothing left for her to say, she re-entered the building and began to collect the supplies she would need, taking a detour back into the locker rooms to grab her ipod. She may have gotten away from the creep outside the locker room, but that did not mean the feeling of being uncomfortable had gone away.

"Elsie!" The ear bud was yanked from her ear.

"Ow!" She spun to find Curtis standing behind her. "What the hell dude, that hurt!"

"You weren't listening."

"You of all people should know that two earphones in means do not disturb. Now what did you want?"

Seemingly glad for the change in conversation, his eyes brightened as his hands came to rest on her forearms. "I need you to cover for me."

"Cover for you? What you talkin' about?"

"I found a way to run again."

"Well that's brilliant!" Elsie was now rather interested in whatever plot her friend had come up with. So interested that she slipped the other earphone out of her ear.

"But there's a catch."

"Isn't there always?"

"I have to use my power."

"You have to turn into a girl to run? Why?" She pulled the protective gloves from her hands, throwing them to the floor before wiping her sweaty palms on her jumpsuit.

He sighed as if it should be obvious. "It a female training fing, innit?"

Elsie clicked her fingers. her smile brightening considerably as she got the gist of her friends idea. "And Curtis Donovan is banned from running!"

"Exactly! So, will you cover for me?"

"Hmm. Only if you show me."

"Show you what?"

"You using your power. I wanna see how you look in your female form."

"Why?"

"That's my price. The catch in this deal if you like. Take it or leave it." She made to bend over pick up her gloves, but was stopped when a hand grabbed her shoulder, stopping her in the process. Looking up, it was no longer Curtis that was standing before her. In his place was now a female. There was no denying it was her friend; even if there had been no visual resemblances, the necklaces that adorned her neck would have been the giveaway. "Nice." Elsie nodded her approval, gaining a smirk. "What are you calling your female self?"

"What?" Her tone of voice would also be a giveaway.

"You're going to be around other people. People are probably going to want to talk to you, you'll need a name and you can't call yourself Curtis while you're in this form."

"We'll jump that hurdle when we get to it."

"Ok." She shrugged and spun back to the wall. "But you should probably get going if you want to start on time."

"So you'll cover for me?"

"Of course. Now go, live your dream. Though it would probably be a good idea to change back into your male self whilst you're wearing your jumpsuit." She picked up the brush and started the mind numbing job of scrubbing at the graffiti all over again.

"You forgot your gloves." Curtis, with his normal voice, informed her over his shoulder as he walked away, back to the changing rooms. He smirked to himself when he heard her swearing.

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